James Neilson Open Mic UK’s 2017 Champion!

Open Mic UK | 27/09/18

Future Music have crowned James Neilson Open Mic UK’s 2017 overall winner

Open Mic UK 2017 Champion: The national music competition Open Mic UK has found its latest winner! Joining a long line of prestigious Future Music competition winners, James Neilson from Wokingham has been crowned the champion of the national Open Mic UK competition at The NEC in Birmingham!

Check out James Neilson’s winning performance below.

Open Mic UK 2017 Champion

James Neilson was crowned champion in front of a capacity crowd and a prestigious music industry judging panel at The NEC in Birmingham on Saturday 20th January. His original song called “Ma Chere” won over the competition industry judges making him the overall winner of Open Mic UK.

The national singing competition is brought to you by Future Music, the company behind the discovery of so many top UK acts including; Jacob Banks, Lucy Spraggan, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley, Luke Friend and Karen Harding, all of which have all been previous past winners or participated in the competitions. As well as the first ever Open Mic UK winner, Warner Music’s Birdy.

Music Industry Judges at the National Grand Final

After impressing the judging panel at the auditions, James battled against more than 10,000 acts that had entered Open Mic UK this year across the UK. He went on to perform in the Open Mic UK live showcases, battling through both Regional and Area Final heats to make it to the national Grand Final.

The judging panel for the Grand Final included; record label representatives from Universal Music, Columbia Records and Syco Entertainment, as well representatives from music management companies, celebrity vocal coaches and platinum selling artists.

James Neilson – Open Mic UK 2017 Champion

James Neilson as Open Mic UK’s overall winner has now won recording studio time to record his album and a video of the best single, plus extensive media promotion from a professional PR company.

Chris Grayston, Head Judge and Director of Future Music has said, “James Neilson has been an outstanding act of the competition in every round throughout, with his unique style.

James has used his music and skill to impress our judges and keep us interested in his original songs from the Regional finals to the Grand final. He is a worthy winner of Open Mic UK 2017!” Check out more information about the Open Mic UK winners on the website here.